Breaking bad habits the focus of new Quit campaign

Tuesday 17 May, 2016

The psychology of quitting is at the centre of a new Quit Victoria campaign designed to give smokers the strategies and tools to help them quit.

Research by Cancer Council Victoria’s Centre for Behavioural Research shows that 82 per cent of Victorian smokers want to quit. The research showed that 81 per cent of smokers had made a previous quit attempt, and 56 per cent had made three or more quit attempts.

Quit Victoria’s new digital campaign, Breaking Habits, aims to empower smokers to succeed in their efforts to quit – and features real-life success stories of Victorians who have kicked the habit for good.

The message is that while quitting smoking can be difficult, every attempt teaches you something new about your addiction and brings you closer to being a non-smoker.

Quit Victoria Director Dr Sarah White said that while graphic television advertisements remained an essential way of motivating smokers to quit and deterring adolescents from starting to smoke, the Breaking Habits campaign was aimed at smokers already contemplating a quit attempt.

“One of our expert Quit specialists, Wendy, steps people through the three aspects of addiction – physical, habitual and emotional – in a series of videos that will feature on the campaign webpage,’’ Dr White said.